May the Most Sweet Child Jesus

I want to wish you a most blessed Christmas by sharing with you a holy blessing from Saint Padre Pio. He wrote the following on December 30, 1915, from his monastery home in Italy. ( Saint Padre Pio is the famous stigmatist-priest who bore the five bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified for fifty years.)

"May the most sweet Child Jesus bring you every grace and blessing, all the favors that are pleasing to His infinite goodness." (Saint Padre Pio's Letters, Volume Two)

During this holy Christmas season, if you have a need, ask Padre Pio to take it to Jesus for you. Jesus will never forsake you.

With love, Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti

No One Can Take Your Joy From You

Hold onto joy, my dear friend whom I love. Hold onto joy, for God is the God of joy. Saint Padre Pio—the famous stigmatist-priest who bore the five bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified in his hands, feet, and side for fifty years—exuded joy to all he met. According to Malachy Gerard Carroll, in his book Padre Pio, written while the Saint was still here on earth, “Christianity means joy, joy even in the midst of pain. It means the gift of eyes that see the rim of eternal hope on the edge of the world, the eternal hills beckoning across the valley of tears. Holiness is a cleansing of spiritual vision, and with that cleansing comes joy. The greatest, the deepest joy of all, therefore, is in the heart of the Saint.”

And Saint Padre Pio knew that joy. He held that joy in his heart and he shared it with all he met. Please allow now his words to place some of that joy in your own heart today: “Joy, then,” says St. Padre Pio, “is an offspring of love, but if this joy is to be true and perfect it must be accompanied inseparably by the peace which pervades us when the good we possess is supreme and certain. Now, is not God the Supreme Good which the soul loves and which it possesses as the result of loving Him? This Good, as well as being supreme, must also be certain. Our divine Master assures us that ‘no one will take your joy from you’ [John 16:22]. What testimony could be more certain than this?” continues St. Padre Pio. “Pondering on all this you cannot fail to experience great gladness. This is what leads us to face the most painful trials with a cheerful heart.” (St. Padre Pio’s Letters, Volume Two)

May the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus fill you to overflowing with His love, peace, and joy! Amen.

Don't Feel Guilty

Do you ever feel guilty because your ailing and/or aging body won’t allow you to do all of the good things you used to do for love of God and His people? “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,” said Jesus.

As vehement as he was about Christians regularly attending worship services, Saint Padre Pio—the famous stigmatist-priest who bore the five ever-bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified in his hands, feet, and side for fifty long years—often ordered ailing and/or aged spiritual children to be easy on their bodies. For example, he forbade one of his dearest friends and “servants”—Mary Pyle, a once-Protestant American who went to live near Padre Pio’s monastery in Italy after she met him—to go to church services because “Brother Body was too heavy and her energy was no longer that of a young girl.” (see p. 118 in Mary Pyle, by Bonaventura Massa)

Of course, like Mary Pyle, you want to keep going, keep doing everything you’ve been doing, since you were young and strong and healthy, but “Brother Body”—or Sister Body—won’t allow it. Saint Padre Pio said to Mary Pyle in her suffering, “Fasten yourself to the Cross until He who was crucified comes to take out the nails.” In support of Padre Pio’s words, here is what Saint Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me, and this life I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

In conclusion, here is a blessing for you from Saint Padre Pio: “May Jesus be always with you; may He sustain you in all the trials which He sends you out of sheer goodness; and may He fulfill in you His holy will for your salvation and for the salvation of all the other souls He wants to save. Amen.” (Saint Padre Pio’s Letters, Volume II, p. 557)

May Jesus always smile on you, my dear friend whom I love.
Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti

The Heavenly Homeland and You

So, the winter is dark. So, your life sometimes seem dark too. Never fear. The Divine Helmsman—as Saint Padre Pio called Jesus Christ Our Lord—is in charge of your life. Jesus will never fail you. Here is what Saint Padre Pio says to you today: “Live tranquilly and trust in the Divine Helmsman, if you want to come into Port [Heaven] soon, safely and rich in merit. … …continually praise God for the steadfastness He gives you in submitting yourself to His loving trials. … You must eliminate even that little residue of restlessness and worry in desiring to be freed soon, because it impedes the last effects of your patience, which is more perfect when it is least mixed up with disturbances and worries. Do not be frightened if the hour of trial is lengthy. … Do not strive to know why Jesus wants this, but remember that the sons [and daughters] of Israel were in the desert for forty years before reaching the Promised Land…. Courage, I beg you! Pay no attention to the path of trial, but I invite you to keep your eyes constantly fixed on He who guides you to the Heavenly Homeland.” (Saint Padre Pio’s Letters, Volume Three)

I love you, my friend!
Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti

God's Blessing for You

“May Jesus totally possess your heart and render you worthy of His singular purpose for your life!” This is what Saint Padre Pio’s blessing is for you today, my friend whom I love. St. Padre Pio—the famous stigmatist-priest who bore the five ever-bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified in his hands, feet, and side for fifty years—wrote these words to a spiritual child, and if you have asked Padre Pio to be your spiritual guide, then you, too, are his spiritual child, and his blessings are for you too: “May Jesus totally possess your heart and render you worthy of His singular purpose for your life!” Amen.

What about God’s blessing for you today? Here it is from God’s Holy Word: “’He that would love life and see good days, let him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking guile; let him turn away from evil and do right; let him seek peace and pursue it. For the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those that do evil.’ Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is right? But even if you do suffer for righteousness’ sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts reverence Christ as Lord.” (1 Peter 3:10-15) Amen.

May God richly bless you, my friend whom I love.
Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti

God Will Bless Your Work and Give You Strength

Have you been putting a lot of time and effort into some sort of good work, merely because you love the Lord and His people? Have you been waiting to see the fruits of your labor and are still waiting to see them? Don’t give up.
Saint Padre Pio—the famous stigmatist-priest who bore the five ever-bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified for fifty years—offers you today this encouragement: "God has warmed with His rays of love the seed that has been sown." So if God has indeed warmed with His love your efforts, don’t give up. God is not going to give up on you!
And for further encouragement, from God Himself, here is what the Holy Spirit says to you today, “As each has received a gift, employ it for one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace: whoever speaks, as one who utters oracles of God; whoever renders service, as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies; in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To Him belong glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.” (1 Peter 4:10-11)
Did you catch that one phrase: “as one who renders it by the strength which God supplies”? Yes, all you have to do is ask God for the strength to continue doing good works for Him. He will not fail you. You are His hands, feet, and voice. Don’t give up.
Love, Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti

Your Shepherd Forever

So, my dear and precious friend in Christ, how are you feeling today? What problems are weighing you down? I thought I’d share with you some thoughts from the Psalmist and Saint James and Saint Padre Pio to lift up your spirits. All three of them were plagued by troubles and so they understood exactly how you feel when you are plagued with them too.

First, what if I share what Saint James says in James 1:2-4? “My brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance; and let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking in nothing.”

Now, for a few words from our Psalmist, but first, let me suggest that you use the following as your own prayer, your own cry to God, Who is your Helper, your Savior, your Friend: “O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their Shepherd, and carry them forever.” (from Psalm 28)

And what kind and wise words does Saint Padre Pio, the famous stigmatist-priest who bore the five ever- bleeding wounds of Christ Crucified in his hands, feet, and side for fifty long years, have to encourage you today? “I feel very weak, but I am not afraid,” says Saint Padre Pio, “for Jesus will see my anguish and the weight that oppresses me. He has told us…that, ‘As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear Him.’” (from Saint Padre Pio’s Letters)

I love you, my dear and precious friend. Eileen Dunn Bertanzetti